Red on Marketing Blog

B2B Website Design Checklist

I always experience stress when about to hit 'publish' on a B2B website redesign. Sometimes alot, sometimes a little. Managing that led to making a mental checklist, which you'll find below. It's intended to help those directing or approving the redesign, to check whether a site really is going to do its job. In my experience, if I can enthusiastically answer 'yes!' to all 9 of these questions, we are good to go.

Topics: Performance Lead Generation Design

Content & Ethics: Why quality control isn't just a practical matter

A while back (I don't see a publish date on it now) I read a post by Sonia Simone titled "The First Rule of Copyblogger." It took my breath away then. It inspires and depresses me now. It gets me thinking about why, as a content marketer, I don't eek by with crappy content.

Topics: Performance Writing

Ethics: When a client's wrong, how much dissent is right?

I recently struggled with where to draw a line between giving advice to a client contact and escalating an issue in order to make sure that the client organization got the best results. Input welcome.

Topics: Performance Design

B2B Websites: Lead generation form dos & don'ts

Sometimes I pit my intuition against the real world at Which Test Won. One recent conversion optimization test on a lead generation form yielded results with a twist.

Topics: Lead Generation Design Conversion Optimization

Ethics, Leadership, and Protecting Veterans

"Veterans are not a charity, we're an investment." -Paul Reichkhoff


I've been moved by Peter Shankman's recent comments on Facebook about responding to the Paris attacks; Craig Newmark's posts leading up to Veteran's Day; and Paul Reickhoff's all-around badassness.

Topics: Ethics Leadership

Unbound: A different kind of roadmap

For years I've been online pals with Rick Roberge. When he gives advice, he serves it straight up. Now Rick and Unbound Growth co-founder Carole Mahoney have posted a 10-page whitepaper, "The Unbound Growth Map", designed to help new or established businesses get customers and get sustainable. Here are my takeaways from it.

Topics: Lead Generation

Here's what I say when asked how to pick images for LinkedIn articles*


Everyone who contributes articles to LinkedIn can put a 700x400 image at the top of their piece. The image accompanies the article title everywhere. But around 60-90% of articles contributed have images that are more liability than asset.

Below are the nine tests I subject stock images to, an example of a top contributor running particularly effective images; and a custom link for those with little time or experience choosing stock.

Topics: Design Writing LinkedIn

135,000 Horsepower In 469 Words


A client is poised for launch... into the record books.

Topics: Performance Writing

Why the Executive Editor of LinkedIn Changed His Headline


Like alot of B2B marketers, I used to write headlines with numbers in them whenever possible — thinking they work the best. Here's what made me change my mind.

Topics: Performance

Guesses, Fibs, & Reports: The 2 glaring problems with end-of-month reporting

At a Silicon Valley PR agency where I used to work, end-of-month reports were a giant combination of legitimate (albeit pretty late) information, guesses, and fibs. At B2B Communications, clients view results directly, as often as they want.

Topics: Performance